Submarine mine.



E. SCHNEIDER.

SUBMARINE MINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 19. 1914.

1,1 36,052. I Patented Apr. 20,1915.

1H5 NORRIS PETERS 60.. PHOTO-LITHQ. WASHINGTON, D. C.

EUGENE SCHNEIDER, OF LE CREUZOT, FRANCE.

SUBMARINE MINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 2%, 1915.

Application filed December 19, 1914. Serial No. 878,080.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EUGENE SCHNEIDER, a citizen of the Republic of France, residing at Le Creuzot, Sa6neet-Loire, France, have invented a new and useful Improvement in or Relating to Submarine Mines, which is fully set forth in the following specification.

he present invention relates to a device applicable to submarine mines in which the depth of the immersion of the mine after it has been moored is determined by the length of a line or cable, secured on the one hand, to a weight or sounding-lead, and on the other hand, to a member which according to whether the said cable is taut or slack, permits or prevents the unwinding of the cable connecting the float of the mine with its anchor. In mines of this kind, when it is desired to immerse the float at a certain depth, the length of the line of the sounding-lead must be adjusted accordingly. The length of the cable which corresponds to the maximum immersion provided for the mine, is wound around or within the sounding-lead, and it is entirely unwound when the mine is moored or anchored at its maximum depth. When it is desired, however, to anchor the mine at a lesser depth, it is necessary to prevent the unwinding of a portion of this cable. At present this result is obtained generally by winding the cable on an auxiliary winch the unwinding movement of which is stripped after a certain number of revolutions by means of various devices (this solution is complicated) or by joining a certain number of convolutions of the cable by a tierope or a knot. This tie-rope or knot is liable to be displaced or slip and consequently the depth of the anchorage is uncertain.

The present invention has for its object to provide a simple, reliable and rapid means for adjusting the length of the cable which is unwound at the time of anchoring, without having recourse to intermediate mechanical means and without the formation of knots at intermediate points of the length of the anchoring cable.

The invention consists principally in providing in the body of the sounding-lead, a plurality of ducts or conduits, preferably diametral, so as to render it possible to control the length of cable which will be unwound, by a simple unwinding before fixing the cable to the anchor, and by passing the end of the length which is unwound to the desired extent through that duct the openmg of which is nearest thereto.

One embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a sectional side view of the sounding-lead, the partial section being taken through the convolutions of the an choring cable. Fig. 2 is a corresponding plan. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing in sectional elevation the sounding-lead having. after its launching, unwound a length of the cable under the control of the improved deyice, in accordance with the desired depth of immersion.

The sounding-lead 1 is formed with a circular groove 2 in which the cable 3 is wound, the end 4 of the latter being secured in a cavity of the said sounding-lead. The sounding-lead is formed with a certain number of diametral ducts 5 (in the example illustrated in the drawing, three ducts are shown) which merge into the upper and lower edges of the groove 2. Any number of knobs 6, six for instance, may be fixed in pairs facing each other, on either side of the groove, in suitable notches. Rubber rings 7, stretched between each pair of knobs, keep the cable wound in the groove and prevent it from unwinding after it has been anchored. An eye-bolt 8 fixed to the sounding-lead permits the latter to be connected to a suitable hook carried by the mine.

The operation is as follows :The anchoring cable being assumed to be entirely wound in the groove without passing through any of the ducts 5 and that end by which the cable is secured to the anchor being assumed to be free so as to controrthe immersion of the mine to the desired depth, the corresponding length of cable plus the length of the duct 5 is unwound from the sounding-lead; this length is measured on the cable, then the free end of the :latter is passed through that duct 5 the opening of which is nearest to the point fixed on the cable. The desired length of cable thus unwound from the sounding-lead is again wound in the groove 2 and the whole is maintained in position by means of the rings or bracelets 7. The free end is secured to the member 9 of the mine which determines the extent of unwinding of the cable connecting the float to the anchor. The soundinglead is secured by means of its eye-bolt 8 to a suitable hook fixed on the 6 point where it enters the duct (Fig. 3).

From this moment onward the unwinding action of the cable is stopped and the unwound length is that which is determined by the distance a between the point .where 10 the cable leaves the duct 5 and the point where the said cable is secured to the mine. By means of this device 1t is possible to anchor the mine at depths varying from one "*to the other of the distances which separate, on the circumference of the soundinglead on which the cable is wound, the openings of two consecutive ducts. By utilizing a suitable number of the aforesaid ducts, for instance, three or four in the case of sounding-leads of the usual size, the d1stance aforesaid may be sufliciently reduced in order that the length of the unwound cable should not differ from that intended by more than the quantity due to errors inherent to any anchorage of submarine mines. V

\V hat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. For use withsubmarine mines, a de cable corresponding to the depth of immersion increased by the length of the said' ducts, the unwinding action being stopped by passing the free' end of the unwound length into the duct nearest thereto.

2. In combination, a submarine mine, a lead having a plurality of passages therein, and a cable carried by said lead for anchoring the mine at variable depths, the free end of which cable passes through the passage nearest thereto and is connected to said mine.

In combination, a submarine mine, a lead havinga plurality of passages therein, and a cable carried by said lead for anchoring the mine at variable depths, the free end of which cable passes through the passage nearest thereto and is connected to said mine, said cable engaging said'passage at two points and holding the mine at a predetermined depth. 1 l

In "combination, a submarine mine, a lead having a plurality of passages passing through the body thereof, and a cable carried by said lead for anchoring the'mine at variable depth, the free end of which cable passesthrough the passage nearest "thereto and is attached to said mine'to hold the same predetermined depth.

testimony whereof I have signed this 30 vice consisting of a sounding-lead having v I v I I specification 1n the presence of two suba plurality of preferably diametral ducts formed in and extending'through the body thereof and a cable wound on said soundscribing witnesses.

EUQENE SCHNEIDER "ing-lead' for connecting the latter with the Witnesses: 35 mine, adjustment of the length'of said cable DE VVrrr C. Poona, J r.,

being effected by unwinding a length of the M. GUINTh. v

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. c. 

